Murchad mac Diarmata

For the Clann Cholmáin king of Uisnech, see Murchad Midi.

Murchad mac Diarmata (died 1070) was a late eleventh-century ruler of the kingdoms of Leinster, Dublin, and the Isles. He was a member of the Uí Chennselaig, and a son of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster (died 1072). Murchad had three sons: Domnall (died 1075), Donnchad (died 1115), and Énna. He is the eponymous founder of the Meic Murchada, a branch of the Uí Chennselaig who adopted the surname Mac Murchada (MacMurrough, MacMorrow, Morrow).

Murchad's death in the Annals of the Four Masters

Murchadh, son of Diarmaid, son of Mael-na-mbo, lord of the foreigners and of Leinster, under his father, died at Ath-cliath, precisely on Sunday, the festival of Mary, in winter. It was in lamentation of him the poet composed these quatrains:

There is grief for a chief king at Ath Cliath,

Which will not be exceeded till the terrible Judgment Day;

Empty is the fortress without the descendant of Duach,

Quickly was the vigour of its heroes cut down.

Sorrowful every party in the fortress

For their chief, against whom no army prevailed;

Since the body of the king was hidden from all,

Every evil has showered ever constant.

For Murchadh, son of Diarmaid the impetuous,

Many a fervent prayer is offered;

In sorrow for the death of the chief is every host

That was wont to defeat in the battle,

Great the sorrow that he was not everlasting;

Pity that death hath attacked him.

Too early it was that he removed from him his complexion,

That he removed one like him from his body.

Liberal of wealth was the grandson of Mael-na-mbo;

He bestowed horses, and he distributed cows,

For the sake of his going to God.

Who is it to whom 'tis best to give fleeting wealth?

Sources

• http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005B/index.html
• "Irish Kings and High Kings", Francis John Bryne, Dublin, 1973.
• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 175-4.